First Wahnam Poetry Contest Submissions--Closed

[Guest]

Just one more from me

Sifu encourages us to share as many poems as we can, this is a great way of catching moments,
and the less we try, the more we express from the heart. That's what I learned.


the tiger - manifestation of emotion


That man with the tiger,

looking over mountains and greenery,

close to the sky,

his mind so free.


Walking with the tiger

that last one to embrace,

to dissolve,

and overcome

[Joel]

A wonderful inspiring competition :-)

CHANGES

The ocean seas are never at rest.
Journeying ownards towards far distant shores,
Whirling winds, winding, whipping,
Wandering waves, surface ripples,
Innermost stillness, deep within
Constant ebbing as huge tides swell.
Embrace the land with Neptune’s hand.
Rolling, tumbling, frolicking rocks,
And slumbering seabirds slowly flock.
Round and around,
Sacred forms round.
While sand dunes playfully laze away.
Their massive forms,form formless masses.
And landscapes rise, inspiring awe.
On a sunset glowing cliff
Trees gaze, reflecting fate
And some long lost lovers patiently wait.
Autumnal breeze, swirling grasses,
Masses, massive, vast, valley eddies.
Tell me, was the sea ever really steady?
Or the sand once still?
Remind me o nature, wherein was that still?
Your flow ever onwards,
Circling, cycling,
Never constant always moving.
But in that movement a silent pause.
Not dead, but calm, tranquil.
Resting mind now still.
Teach me this silence.
The silence of emptiness.
Searching, seeking, fleeting transient.
Echoes slowly flowing onward.
Mirrors shining brightly inward.
Lights radiating illuminating forward.
Found again that path once lost.
Wandering cycling, a lifetimes cost.
Approach me now without fear.
The way once again is now clear.

[Guest]

A Set of Three on a Quit Sunday Night

My Sifu

A Beautiful Man


Inspiring and Wise

Wise and Compassionate

Compassionate and Humble

Humble and Great

Great and Inspiring



The Mind

Ever Present

Never There

Never Present

Ever There



Let Go

We are what we think

We think what we are

We choose to blink

We choose to be aware

We stop and arrive

[MichaelS]

Before is after and the way around

You can learn Chi Gung the wrong way
or learn it the ‘Wong way’:
only leave out one letter
and change can matter.

Got a good karma at hands,
being in Sitaigung’s class hour:
now relax in your stance
and take a cosmic shower.

A smile on your face
that’s flowing from grace
and a kind open heart
makes a nice start.

Just enjoy your practice,
breathe in and breathe out,
and really feel good,
that’s what it’s about.

When you love doing “wu wei”,
don’t forget first to “you wei”,
but in trying to keep going you will get low,
so for getting better allow a free chi flow.

That’s why it’s also about “how you chi”
and while doing so not to get stuck,
the Chinese I’ve heard call this “hao yun chi”
which also means for you “good luck”.

Now, in Wuji we start out and end in a stance,
in Taji we’re moving and it’s much more than a dance,
no need to be someone in somebodies “most-famous-hall”,
‘cause we’re already in the Great Ultimate and Not-Ultimate All.

For you separate the black and white Yin-Yang role
when straddling your legs while about to unbound,
yet bring them together in a circle made whole,
in your finishing stance when you merry-come-round.

Some stretch out all over the cosmos, it’s now almost a norm,
but still nobody’s perfect, nor so perform a form,
first comes chi-generation, application and then on,
on into nothingness, emptiness, or sometimes the virtual kwoon.

All your thoughts will come true when you reach a certain rank,
which tells you to not think it all through but to keep your mind blank,
but it’s fine to “think” about your Tan Tien while breathing energy and air,
only have noble thoughts and then kind ones when they’re about a ‘him or her’.

Hey hee, enjoy the movements, the silence and ‘flow chi’
while some moves are hard and some soft and lush,
just learn well your Chi Gung, Kung Fu and Tai Chi,
and be assured that there’s really never ever a rush…

Now is a big change just a small one
in the grand scheme of all - and the All stays steady,
or does the All change with a change going on,
so even a small change is changing it all already?

Honestly, that’s now too high for me… , I cannot say it,
So I just face the change with a smile from the heart and embrace it…

[MichaelS]

Ancient Garden

There’s an old beautiful garden that seems to be nurtured by the soft Dao of the morning mist,
that always feels a bit different through the year of the four seasons,
in rain, snow and sunshine and the many kinds of winds,
and varying ages and numbers of visiting people and the few silent hours on the list.

The broad-leaved trees seem to “do change” quite intensely,
building new green leaves in spring, growing to autumn colors, then falling off,
giving a funny playground for the kids and a blessing for the ground,
when cut down you can see their annual rings of growth so clearly.

Conifer trees with evergreen needles do not appear so busy with the seasons,
but then they don’t seem to resist change and grow to the open and wide,
dressed in white snow in the winter until spring melts the ice and there’s a new light,
people like to make bath-soap and salve from their pins and love them also for other reasons.

And by some people that met me on my way there I’ve been told,
that though adult by age I’d still have to grow up,
yet others said that it’s all in the stars and foretold for ages,
that guys of my star-sign don’t in a lifetime grow old.

At one spot in the garden they’ve cut down half of a rose-bush,
to make space for a new statue dedicated to the winds from the south,
just this day on my way home I’ve seen two new branches there already grown tall,
that I must have overseen on my almost daily visits there – they couldn’t just grow like whoosh…

On the side of a path there were I come by day-by-day on my way to the daily mundane tick-tock,
after three years of living there got aware of a some-year old tree for the first time,
and not even once in a while it came to my conscious attention when walking past there,
that’s why I cannot tell you how it changed in that phase while I was busy with living by the clock.

The gardeners told me that there even is a time for trees to die in this place,
that’s mostly when they’ve done their work according to their purpose,
some trees are like pioneers and after around two decades they’re finished and done,
and though they might disappear here: their species just moves on to another pioneer-space.

So the gardeners keep this place a garden for that our friends there stay some longer than just a while:
grass, flowers, herbs, bushes, shrubs, trees, fungi, insects, birds and all the animals,
that’s when the habitat is kept consistent, for un-groomed and wild it would grow into a forest,
only remembered through the left-over statue there of a Buddha that is always calm with a smile.

[MichaelS]

Everyone loves Butterflies

When you’re with people that see a Butterfly,
you can hear them sigh and see them smile lovely,
and some of them even feel inspired for poetry.

And a Butterfly appears sort of miraculously,
perceived as a mystery and yet for all eyes to see,
as she hasn’t been so previously.

Now we came to life in a family,
and when you still have Grandparents, Father and Mother, Sisters and Brothers…
then people often say that you’re lucky.

And when you’re learning Kung Fu, Chi Gung and Tai Chi,
then there’s Sitaigung, Sigung, Sifu, Sije, Simui, Sihing and Sidai…
so you’ve also got another whole family tree.

But please tell me of the Butterfly and especially
who’s its Father and Mother and Sisters and Brothers?
as from before I remember her a bit caterpillarly.

She did sort of birth herself - or some might say “again” - courageously,
by going through a metamorphosis innately,
and I’ve heard of humans trying to change similarly.

Some are wondering how to, yet my friends just say ‘Howdy!’,
and from viewing the cocoon feeling so homely,
I’d reckon that the butterfly does it just naturally.

Yet ‘born out of what’ some wonder more silently,
learning from life and nature to take things humorous-lightly,
and by looking at the butterfly this is what my eyes see:

It appears to be out of love, light and wisdom and all out of beauty,
and she visits colorful flowery blossoms so gently and playfully,
flatters-by elegantly and she’s doing it all with grace and flow so-so easily.

[MichaelS]

stand-flow

Ever so slightly flowing…

colors and tones and luminosity…

…sun sets…

…now night here…

…new morning there…

...sun dawns...

ever so lightly flowing...

colors and tones and luminosity.

[veenie]

Sunday's Prayer

Lay down your weapons you carry to battle,
the fight is over,
the battlefield has gone.
Lay them good sir and
rest down your heart,
let be the grass to swallow your armour and
bathe in the kiss from heavens breast.

[veenie]

Mother's Gift

Ancient voices of the trees,
Beckoning me to take a peek.
Beneath her cascading hair she,
Revealed the bud I must nourish in me.
Nurture and love are your seeds,
Spread them wide for all to seek.
Blossom the hearts and you'll see,
Heaven's delights are here to reap.

[veenie]

Pilgrims Journey

Pull back your covers that weigh down on you,
Put down your feet and march on through!
For on the table lays the tea,
The door is not far and so is not he!

[veenie]

Webbers Calling

It was about half past the hour and the moon was at it's super, her eight legs scurried across the floor.
Stopping in it's tracks my gaze was locked in it's and fear no longer reflected back but an acknowledged stare of acceptance.
I laid down my head and the portals of dimensions pointed at her presence;

"Tune into her spinning webs her creations lay within
She is the mother of all destinies"

and with that I Awoke.

Later I had come to realise that she had shed her past remains which were left empty on the side.
Departing of the shell had taken place under my very nose.
Rays of dawn broke the silence and it was time to weave her web again.

[veenie]

Parting Ways

Strike at the heart with your questions!
How dare you ask it?
Reveal it's secrets?
The door is closed!
The key is drowned!

Why are you smiling?

[veenie]

A Chest of Treasures

A heart of yearning I prayed to thee and,
Pondered upon humanity.

Gazing at the stars at night,
I tasted heavens secrets in delight.

In my hands a key was given,
Unblock the heart all is forgiven.

The sweetest nectar is all yours,
When the fruit is ripe it pours.

So Now's your chance forget it all,
Listen deeply the whispers of your call.

Go forth each day renewed eyes and anew heart,
Compassion and Wisdom let this be your art!

[veenie]

"The well is dry"
"Go lift the sky!"
"The well is full"
"Go play in life!"







Student to Master

[MichaelS]

The Legacy of Ho Fatt Nam

This one was written after the "The legacy of Ho Fatt Nam" workshop in Zurich, Sept. 5th/6th 2015.
Thank you so much Sitaigung, Thank you very much, Sigung Roland Mastel, Sipakgung Andrew Barnett and Sifu Andrea Zilio.
Thank you very much to everbody who posted poems here, really enjoying the diversity and each one for itself.
lol, Michael




Legacy of Ho Fatt Nam


With kind blessings from compassionate Kuan-Yin,
A living legend from ancient legends brought with him,
Immense intrinsic treasures that he is sharing,
In a heart-to-hearts transmission from within.

As the Yin is in the Yang and the Yang is in the Yin,
In a place in the heart of a continent is a gathering,
And in a place in our hearts - prepared through emptying,
Ready to start from scratch all over with a big grin.

As the ‘Nam’ is in the ‘Wahnam’ that we’re all in,
In reference for the legacy of Ho Fatt Nam – who’s standing in
His lineage as the third Master counting down from Shaolin,
Our Grand Master Wong Kiew Kit’s third sifu since his begin.

Chi Gung and Kung Fu’s original Art came from Shaolin,
When - “south of the river” – Venerable Jiang Nan was travelling,
And found a worthy successor in Yang Fatt Khuen,
As ‘this is heaven’s will’ - then Ho Fatt Nam was following.

So, from ‘Lifting the Sky” as the first thing,
On to others…also ‘One finger shooting Zen’ honoring,
Ending with a secret one, a bridge that needs a new naming,
And with Immortal Ho Fatt Nam visiting and his blessing.

Some things Sitaigung since back then was changing,
Going into a ‘chi-gung-state-of-mind’ in the begin,
Not leaving straightaway – but enjoying silence when ending,
And enjoying chi flow; turning out as so much improving.

With grateful and settled hearts we were leaving,
And wide hearts, the whole kung-fu-family fit’s in,
As our hearts are within the heart of all we’re humbly offering,
The fruits of our dedication in service to the world we’re in.